So I did an intro a while back but finally have enough going on with the truck to start compiling a thread. I picked up this Ram 50 back in December for $900 bucks "road ready". After bringing it home, it became obvious it had the worst lowering job ever done to it...so I put on new coils and 1.5" drop blocks...that way I could clear the Titan wheels/tires. I went ahead and replaced all the tie rod ends, shocks, and ball joints right away. Then I dropped the truck off at an x-buddies paint shop in January...where it was held hostage for 4 months, and ended up having the center dash piece broken when some tool stole the stereo...hoping to find that piece somewhere so I can replace the stereo. At least the body work and liner paint job turned out descent enough for my needs.

Since having it back, I went ahead and replaced the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and tossed in a Blaster ignition coil and a new battery. I also picked up an EGR gasket and threw it in CAD so I could CNC an aluminum block off plate (see pic)...I also did a fuel pump block off at the same time as I've got a new Weber and electric fuel pump here ready to go in with a unique cold air setup.

Fast forward to this week...I was driving down the road at 50 mph when all got quiet. Knocked out my work this week and pulled her in the shop tonight to find teeth missing from the timing belt at the crank. Guessing I'm gonna need to pull the head and go have it checked and maybe freshened up while it's apart. The motor is likely original and the truck has 130k on it...not sure if I should go ahead and pull the motor to do rings and bearings at the same time...as I need my shop truck reliable. Researching now to see if there's any other options I should consider while I am this far into swapping stuff, without adding a ton of down time to the mix.

Other parts here ready to go on include a new brake master cylinder (current one is quite leaky), flex brake lines for both front wheels (current are dry rotted), and a use power steering pump (it's setup for power steering but came with no pump installed).

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Will post more soon...but here's a few pics to get started.

Don